Even though Stephen Colbert the host, actor, and comedian is only leaving us for a brief bit of time—he'll take over hosting ‘The Late Show’ late next year—“Stephen Colbert” the ‘Colbert Report’-created character left us last night, when the Comedy Central talk show ended its nine-year run. Colbert’s final episode was weird, marvelous, and marvelously weird, and concluded with a massive, star-studded sing-a-long that included crooners like Big Bird, Jeff Daniels, Cyndi Lauper, James Franco, and more more more.

It was a touching and funny send-off, a fittingly bizarre end for Colbert’s run on the network. If you feel yourself tearing up, Nation, that’s okay. We’ll meet again.